VC investment surging to best performance since 2001

Canada's venture capital industry closed the third quarter with its best investment performance since 2001, driven by 11 large deals worth $50 million or more for a total of $774 and a nine-month total of $2.5 billion. Information technology accounted for $1.6 billion or 62% of the investment total in the year-to-date, followed by life sciences ($531 million/21%), clean tech ($149 million/6%) and consumer-related firms ($148 million/6%). Foreign VC accounted for 36% of the nine-month total and overseas funds provided 5%. Average deal size increased to $5.6 million, overtaking France but still well behind global leaders such as China, India, the US, UK and Israel. The focus on larger, later-stage deals hit seed and early-stage investments, which are down 21% so far this year. Ontario was home to the most investment at $442 million, the province's best performance since 2002. The most active investors this year to date are Fonds de Solidarité FTQ ($179.3 million), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec ($124.9 million) and the Business Development Bank ($112.9 million). Data were provided by Thomson Reuters....